Letters: History & a Legacy

Sirs:

An olive wreath to you for the forthright article on the subject of aid, morally and financially, to Greece, the birthplace of democracy [TIME, March 10]. . . .

Britain, I am sure, has little if any “fat in the fire” where Greece is concerned, and with pressure being applied at home and abroad would probably thankfully withdraw all her troops and services but for the threat of an ever-expanding Russia in this last stronghold of Western culture and Western-type democracy … in the Balkan nations. . . .

FRANK E. ASHDOWN Vancouver, B. C.

Sirs:

[The writer of] the Marshall article, with classic incisiveness and clarity, has assembled data with an inescapable meaning—America now enters the arena of history on her own. All the chill introspection which attends the individual at the death of a cooperative and sympathetic parent who, wisely or unwisely, consciously or unconsciously, shielded him from the full weight of the world, comes home to the heart and mind. America has lost its mother. . . . Great Britain has been that . . . and she has evoked the devotion, the suspicion, the resentment which fits into the personal relationship between a powerful, strong-willed parent and her equally strong-willed and powerful son. . . .

The inheritance and prerogatives are chimeras—the legacy has been dissipated in advance. … If Britain could not hold the forts of Europe and Asia, surely the son, removed in interest and action, cannot. What then? Chaos and Communism? Not unless we forget the really important part of the inheritance.

There is religion, a tradition of progressive enfranchisement of spiritual truth in workable statutes; there is the reality of justice which all along has been the source of British power . . . there is the ideal of liberty which itself gave birth and secret strength to the early individuality of her children as well as to servants and to strangers.

Since money must be spent, ‘and help must be rendered, America can convert every dollar into an ally . . . only by convincing Europeans and Asiatics alike that we hold by the spiritual ideal of Christianity, the intellectual idea of justice, the humanitarian ideal of liberty. . . . And we have much to do—so much to do—right here at home, before such professions will make sense or meaning to the world.

Kent, Wash. LINDEN DALBERG

Sirs:

… To put the shoe on the other foot, let us suppose that it became the policy of the Soviet to denounce as threats to her security, and threaten to counteract with troops and cash, all capitalist political and economic maneuvers occurring in the Western Hemisphere. Would not our cumulative rage soon border on national apoplexy, and justifiably so?

R. M. BENTLEY Los Angeles

Sirs:

No matter how much cramming Secretary Marshall may have done in preparation for the Moscow Conference, he won’t succeed in moving the world any nearer permanent peace until he and the others who formulate our foreign policy face the unpleasant truth that the Soviet Union doesn’t want a peaceful, prosperous world outside its own borders and those of its satellites.

It’s no secret that the Soviet leaders, believing Communism to be the great “good” . . . welcome and even encourage dissatisfaction, hunger, unemployment and general unrest in all non-Soviet or non-Soviet-controlled territories. . . .

What are we to do? We must notify the Russian leaders that we are determined that the Peace shall be organized on the basis of the Atlantic Charter, and that the United Nations shall be made into a really effective organization with unfettered power of control over atomic energy and all heavy armaments. . . .

Berkeley, Calif.

Vacant Niche

Sirs:

Pained indeed to read [TIME, March 3] that Tom Paine’s niche in the Hall of Fame still lacks a bust.

Has there been a sculptor’s plague in the U.S., or have the panes of their souls been darkened by greed and isms? Are there no leftists left among them or are all the southpaw-modelers concentrating on “Fragrances” and “Rhythms” in stone?

As for “funds to provide,” don’t Progressives and Socialists ever spend any money?

Are the Pinks prideless? If all fails, might there not be enough Paines to subscribe?

I don’t know what you’re waiting for, but if Stalin hears of this, he’ll beat you to it. I’d like to sic some Dutch sculptors onto it but it really is a job for Americans. Wake up, Yanks, get wise to yourselves, use your Common Sense!

HENRY PLUKKER

President

Concertgebouw Orchestra

Amsterdam, Holland

Name & Address

Sirs:

You greatly distressed me with your story about the appointment of one Jose Figuerola to take charge of Argentina’s guns-for-butter Five-Year-Plan [TIME, Dec. 16]. Reason for my reaction: the picture you ran and labeled “Blueprinter Figuerola is my own likeness-and I am decidedly not working for Mr. Peron, nor have I ever been in any way connected with Axis activities.

JOSE C. FIGUEROLA

New York City

¶ For a picture mixup, TIME’S apologies to Barcelona-born U.S. Citizen Jose C. Figuerola, resident of New York City since 1918, who served as ordnance adviser to the U.S. War Department in World Wars I & II. Engineer Figuerola is not to be confused with Barcelona-born Jose Figuerola (no kin) who is labor expert for Juan Peron.—ED.

What Is Sport?

Sirs:

After reading your report of the revolting so-called “sport” of goose pulling [TIME, March 10] in South Carolina, I am wondering why we have blamed all the sadism and torture of recent times on the Nazis and Japs. Can it be that there are those in our own United States who have still not had their fill of suffering, torture and slow death these past few years? … If there are those who can stand and “laugh” and “cheer” at this unbelievably disgusting exhibit of perversion in one of our states, then we had better take up the cudgels where we left off in Europe. . . .

ROSAMOND B. BEACH Havre de Grace, Md.

Sirs:

The account . . nauseated me. . . .

LILLIAN H. NOBLE Escondido, Calif.

Sirs:

. . . That human beings can be titillated by the deliberately contrived torture to death of a helpless domestic fowl is a disgrace to mankind. . . .

MRS. H. S. GRANNATT Portland, Ore.

Sirs:

. . . Are we so far from the Dark Ages? The humanlike beings watching the horror, no doubt screamed the loudest against the recent Buchenwald atrocities. . . . The cultured mind, and kindness toward helpless creatures, is the hallmark of an enlightened community. Let us hope that those in authority will take the necessary steps to remove this blot from an otherwise progressive country.

GERTRUDE HALL Montreal, Canada

¶ The necessary steps have been taken by South Carolina’s citizens (TIME, March 17).—ED.

Who Is The Enemy?

Sirs:

… In an age when more & more Americans are turning away from God, it seems to me that Editor Charles Clayton Morrison could better employ his time than by sniping at Catholics for the way they run their schools [TIME, March 3]. . . .

It is time for all Protestants to know their enemy, and save their ammunition for fighting atheism and religious indifference, rather than blasting a sect that only wishes to do good and love God.

KATHARINE KERN.AN Utica, N.Y. P.S. I am an Episcopalian.

There’ll Always Be …

Sirs:

Georgia’s Senator Richard Russell expressed a very good idea, when he “suggested that the United States admit England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as member states of the U.S.” [TIME, March 10].

It is a very practical approach to what the United States is attempting with one mighty stroke in the United Nations. Throughout our history, we have been admitting new states, who wanted to join and had the qualifications. Why should we stop today? Why should we confine ourselves to North America?

. . . True, many of the members of the new state would come to America, but many an American would also go into the new state. It would be a new frontier from different points of view.

When a business becomes shortsighted and is afraid to take a good gambling chance, it has started on a downgrade. We would be helping ourselves—economically, socially and politically—by being generous to others. Why should we be contented with a United States of America ? The spirit of our Constitution is expansion. I am all for the “United States of the World.”

LEO E. BECHER Milwaukee

Sirs:

Recently when reading your excellent magazine I get the impression that America is running round in circles, and that the crown of leadership of the democratic world is a bit heavy.

Now, may I, on behalf of the British people, invite you to join the British Empire and we will pull you through.

I think this would be a far better idea than being the 49th state.

H. MILLS Whitley Bay, Northumberland, England

Sirs:

I wish to protest most strongly against Mr. John Osborne’s summary of The Crisis in Britain [TIME, Feb. 24].

We may, in this country, be cold, annoyed, frustrated, impatient and weary, but we are decidedly not, repeat not, frightened. . ‘. . SHEILA REID Glasgow, Scotland

Sirs:

We are as resilient as we were in 1941, when we were sentenced to death by many in the U.S.A. “There’ll always be an England!”

W. G. PRIEST London